Seville a stepping stone to Sydney

On the face of it, not a lot links America's Marion Jones with Ireland's Sonia O'Sullivan as they plot their programmes at the start of World Championship year.

Jones, the undisputed number one of women's athletics in the year just ended, is making ready to confirm her rating as the most explosive sprinter since Florence Griffith-Joyner.

O'Sullivan, by contrast, is seeking to build on her new reputation as the matriarch of long distance running on the track after last season's European 5,000 and 10,000 metres double.

In terms of events, the two women couldn't scarcely be more different. Yet, the certainty is that in the approach to the World Championships at Seville in August, none will command more attention.

At this point in her career Jones has few of the eccentricities and much less of the glamour that established the late, lamented Flo-Jo as one of the track's most riveting personalities. Yet, her record of achievement bears comparison with the best after another spectacular year in which her opposition was invariably content, it seemed, to pitch its ambition at finishing second to the American.

The challenge for Jones is to emulate the achievement of her compatriot Carl Lewis in completing a four-timer in the 100, 200, long jump and sprint relay events. Based on her form in 1998, few will bet against it.

For O'Sullivan, reborn in a series of championship successes at Marrakesh and later at Budapest, the challenge is to prove that she can sustain the momentum in the all-consuming crusade of crowning her career with an Olympic title at Sydney in 18 months' time.

In the aftermath of her monumental mishaps in Atlanta, O'Sullivan's levels of expectation have been considerably lower in the last couple of seasons. More than that, it appeared that many of her rivals had written her off as a serious contender on the big championship occasions.

To that extent, she had the element of surprise going for her in the last year. Now, she is again likely to find herself subjected to the pressures of favouritism. Ireland awaits her response in Seville.

Before that, of course, there is the business of confirming herself as the best in cross country when the World Championships return to Belfast in March.

Few who were privileged to witness it will forget the high drama at Limerick, on the last occasion the championships were held here, in 1979 when John Treacy carried an enormous weight of expectation to a second consecutive title.

Substitute O'Sullivan for Treacy and little will have changed in the hype for Belfast and the opportunity of watching another Irish athlete beat the world.

There is cause for a lot more apprehension in assessing the likely input of an Irish athlete into the men's championships at Seville. True, Mark Carroll's bronze medal in the European Championships gives him additional status in the 5,000 metres and the burgeoning talent of James McIlroy is a cause for some optimism in the 800 metres. Yet, exposed to the frightening power of African athletes, Seville may prove little more than an advance in their learning curve.

The two men likely to continue their stranglehold are Hicham El Guerrouj and Haile Gebrselassie. Between them, they dominated every distance from 1,500 through to 10,000 metres in a manner which brooked no argument last year and which, barring the improbable, will again set the standard in 1999.